Colleen Woods Pencils

The Colleen Woods series represents an exciting vision of woodcase pencil manufacturing. The series is also a profoundly simple and beautiful pencil set. Pencils have been made from cedar for a century or more, and more recently from jelutong, pulai, and basswood. Pine and fir have also been used.

Yet – out of thousands of global tree species and raw materials – why have so few been used?

Altering a core aspect of a pencil isn’t done lightly. There have been some experiments with shape, and many with a pencil’s finish. But what about the pencil’s core materials – specifically the type of wood?

Twelve years ago, Colleen recognized that pencil slats could be made from any wood that the machinery could cut, and created a varied set as an artistic exploration.

Though others have competently explored the pencil’s potential, Colleen seems to have mined a much deeper vein, changing the pencil’s wood.

The presentation is modest, and probably quite different from how a North American company would present a luxury product – a plain cardboard box.

Twelve pencils are presented – each marked with the number in the series, the HB grade, the bilingual (English and Japanese) wood species and country/area of origin, and a most unusual number – the specific gravity of the pencil’s wood. Some species are familiar, and some are more exotic.

Meaning – woods with a specific gravity greater than 1.0 will sink in water! The ebony pencil weighs a remarkable 8.7g – more than double a modern cedar pencil, which typically weighs around 3.8g. It is a memorable experience to hold. In fact each pencil is an amazing delight, and together they form an incredible set.

Here is a chart listing the pencils, place of origin, specific gravity, and links to additional sources of information about the tree species.

wow!! I think in the idea of why manufacturers don’t make pencils with differents woods a lot of times becouse I make wood furniture and I work with a lot of woods, but now I see that somebody think the same before!!

The Colleen Pencil Company ceased to exist some years ago, so their products are no longer available through retail channels. A former Colleen manager has attempted to revive the brand in Thailand, and has already produced an outstanding exotic wood set using teak!

Henrik, I wish I had Volume 1! A clue may be in Marco Ferreri’s book Pencils, which shows a set of 24 pencils in a tin, differing from the ones show here in having their species/location information only in Japanese. That set appears to be different version of the pencils seen here. If so, Volume 1 probably has another twelve wood varieties – sandalwood, oak, beech, cherry, maple, and others.

These are indeed very nice pencils. With such exotic woods I would prefer less text as to showcase the beauty of each wood species. I would also love to write with them, sharpening them wouldn’t present a problem for me unless of course I only had one set. ;]

Beautiful? Absolutely. But I’m concerned about the source material–many of the woods typically come from endangered tropical forests. Does Colleen Woods Pencils take any measures to ensure wood is sustainably harvested?